I prefer the Mike Trout who stole bases and was a speed-power threat like Rickey Henderson.

Why doesn't Mike Trout steal many bases anymore?

His rookie year, he had 49 steals and was one away from a rare 30 homer/50 steal season.
Last year, he stole 33 bases.
This year, he has a measly 12 steals.

I understand he's trying to be a power guy, but he's barely on pace to hit more homers than his first two seasons, and his Ks are way up and walks are way down.
It just doesn't make sense for a guy who can steal 50 bases to be held back from stealing bases.

I know he bats second instead of leadoff now, but it's not like Cole Calhoun is always on base blocking his chance to steal.
And you don't have to be a leadoff hitter to steal bases, as lots of speed-power threats have shown.

Is It because he's not getting on base as much? (.288 batting avg. and only 66 walks, compared to his usual .325, 110 walks)

Has he gained weight?
Is he hiding an injury?
Or is the manager limiting his baserunning for some reason?

I'm a Trout fan, but I thought he was much more exciting and effective when he was a threat to steal every time he got on base.
He doesn't seem like that unique dominant 5-tool MVP candidate that he was his first two seasons.

I would be willing to bet this is a directive from management. I was just thinking about this the other day. A player become soooooo valuable, the team outwardly makes them less valuable by taking away some of what they do best. In this case, stolen bases by Mike Trout.

Calhoun is pretty good, no?

ballerskrip said:

I would be willing to bet this is a directive from management. I was just thinking about this the other day. A player become soooooo valuable, the team outwardly makes them less valuable by taking away some of what they do best. In this case, stolen bases by Mike Trout.

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They were discussing that on the MLB Network recently.
None of the analysts could understand why Scoiscia would restrict Trout's baserunning, and thought maybe it's because they want to prevent an injury.

John Hart commented that it's turned Trout from a once-in-a-generation all around threat like Willie Mays and Rickey Henderson, into an excellent but not legendary all around player like Torii Hunter or Jim Edmonds.

I say turn a guy loose and let him do what got him here. In trout's case that is being a do everything kind of guy.

And put him back in the leadoff slot! Why give up the chance at starting the gave with a 1 run lead?

Everything is great until he breaks a finger or something sliding into second base on a steal attempt. That is probably the reason guys. The risk for injury is not worth him missing significant time.

Joshua.Roundtree said:

Everything is great until he breaks a finger or something sliding into second base on a steal attempt. That is probably the reason guys. The risk for injury is not worth him missing significant time.

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That's definitely what ruined Rickey Henderson's career...oh wait...

It is a risk they should take given the enormous potential payoff for letting him run. I hate the idea that a player's ability can somehow be "saved" for later. A player's ability now can only be used or wasted. The Reds are the same with Billy Hamilton, as if he's some fragile little flower. Just let the man play and reap the rewards. If he gets hurt, deal with it then, don't handicap the team on "what if" paranoia.

Joshua.Roundtree said:

Everything is great until he breaks a finger or something sliding into second base on a steal attempt. That is probably the reason guys. The risk for injury is not worth him missing significant time.

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I don't disagree but how many guys actually break fingers stealing? When you compare the finger injuries to amount of times steals are attempted in a year, and the odds are like getting struck by lighting. If they are so concerned about fingers teach him/make him slide feet first.

Not ot a great comparison but Braun slides feet first on all SB attempts and he does fairly well.

Aren't there some fancy new base running gloves for head first sliders?

Of course a ton depends on where he's batting. Does he benefit the team more hitting lead off? Maybe. A lot rides on the rest of the lineup. Are others hitting or cold? How often are you gonna run with Pujols up?

I found this article.

http://ftw.usatoday.com/2014/03/mike-trout-second-angels-lineup-batting-order

Austin said:

They were discussing that on the MLB Network recently.
None of the analysts could understand why Scoiscia would restrict Trout's baserunning, and thought maybe it's because they want to prevent an injury.

John Hart commented that it's turned Trout from a once-in-a-generation all around threat like Willie Mays and Rickey Henderson, into an excellent but not legendary all around player like Torii Hunter or Jim Edmonds.

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Comparing him to Hunter or Edmonds is a little ridiculous. Even without running all that much he's the favorite to win the MVP. Edmonds had 1 4th place and 1 5th place finish in the MVP voting and other than that never finished higher than 14th. Hunter finished 6th once, and other than that never before 15th.

Topnotchsy said:

Comparing him to Hunter or Edmonds is a little ridiculous. Even without running all that much he's the favorite to win the MVP. Edmonds had 1 4th place and 1 5th place finish in the MVP voting and other than that never finished higher than 14th. Hunter finished 6th once, and other than that never before 15th.

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I don't think so, just comparing this year's stats, which is what John Hart was doing. Trout's numbers, both offensively and defensively this year, are very comparable to Hunter and Edmonds at their best. .290, 30 homers, 100 rbi, 15 steals, Gold Glove defense.
Again, excellent season, but a major regression from Trout's usual dominance.

And Trout was the MVP favorite when he was hitting 30 points higher a month or two ago.
Now, the MVP talk is partly based off his first two incredible years, not this underwhelming one. No one else is really standing out as an MVP candidate this season so Trout will probably win, barring a continued slump, unless a pitcher like Felix Hernandez wins.

Austin said:

I don't think so, just comparing this year's stats, which is what John Hart was doing. Trout's numbers, both offensively and defensively this year, are very comparable to Hunter and Edmonds at their best. .290, 30 homers, 100 rbi, 15 steals, Gold Glove defense.
Again, excellent season, but a major regression from Trout's usual dominance.

And Trout was the MVP favorite when he was hitting 30 points higher a month or two ago.
Now, the MVP talk is partly based off his first two incredible years, not this underwhelming one. No one else is really standing out as an MVP candidate this season so Trout will probably win, barring a continued slump, unless a pitcher like Felix Hernandez wins.

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We'll have to disagree. Trout's OPS+ is 163 this year, a number Edmonds surpassed only once is his career. And Torii Hunter never had an OPS higher than 129.

It's certainly been a bit of a "down season" by Trout's standards, largely because of the big increase in K's and decrease in BB's, but he's still been an extremely good player, leading the league in a whole slew of advanced metrics. And while people like steals (myself included) they are much more flash than substance for the most part and for many players (although not Trout because he's a great baserunner) the positives are almost completely wiped out by the "caught stealing."

Saying that, Trout looked like a historically good player his first two seasons and last season it seemed like the trend was towards better plate control (more BB's, fewer K's even with more AB's). This season that has certainly changed and one has to wonder if his trajectory might tail off a bit more (or sooner) than people thought. Of course for now that level is still MVP caliber.

Hes gots the money, no need to run. :wink:

I think we've spoiled over the last two or three years and a theory that has been thrown out there is Trout has played his best years and despite his youth, Trout isn't going to be a radically more awesome player once he reaches the typical baseball players' prime years [26-28].

"Underwhelming year?" This conversation is amazing. He leads the league in total bases. He'll likely finish with 5-7 more HR than last year and 15-17 less steals. Fair trade IMO.

Wes said:

"Underwhelming year?" This conversation is amazing.

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Underwhelming compared to Trout's previous two historic seasons. I thought that was obvious.
I'm not talking about metrics or any of that. I'm talking about how he's running less, why that might be and that he's less exciting to watch now.
And the comparisons to other players was something the MLB Network analysts were talking about.

juice